


one more last chance

by jedusaur



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-20 18:25:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18530620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jedusaur/pseuds/jedusaur
Summary: Kent scores the game-winning goal and Jack is the first one to hug him, and in the three seconds it takes anyone else to jump on top of them, Kent sees a chance in Jack's eyes and misses it. Jack would have been furious, he would have fallen apart, but in that double heartbeat Kent could tell for certain: he wanted to be kissed.





	one more last chance

Kent scores the game-winning goal and Jack is the first one to hug him, and in the three seconds it takes anyone else to jump on top of them, Kent sees a chance in Jack's eyes and misses it. Jack would have been furious, he would have fallen apart, but in that double heartbeat Kent could tell for certain: he wanted to be kissed.

Kent kisses him later, but too much later, when the adrenaline of winning has ebbed back to the adrenaline of being Jack. His whole life is all about beating down the emotions left over from the last game and focusing on the next, and now that there's no next game, he's focused on the draft. Kissing Kent isn't in his draft prep plan.

Kissing Jack is Kent's entire draft prep plan. Kissing Jack and playing hockey is his entire life plan.

At least half of it ends up working out for him.

*

Kent scores the game-winning goal and Jack's face falls, and it's all wrong. Jack isn't supposed to be disappointed about Kent scoring. Kent's win should be Jack's win, their happiness should be the same happiness. Something is broken in the universe.

Kent finds Jack after the game and says, "Come out with me."

"I don't feel like going out," says Jack. He doesn't have to say _because you won and I lost._

"Come over, then," says Kent. "Come anywhere." He never would have thought he'd have to sound this desperate.

"Kenny," says Jack, pity mercifully masked by his monotone. "What's the point?"

Kent doesn't push it, but he doesn't give up hope. It can't be over, can it? It can't just be over.

*

The Aces don't make the playoffs, and Kent signs on to play for Team USA at Worlds, because the Falconers are still in it so he won't have to play against Jack. He watches Jack's games, aching to catch the passes his wingers miss. They always passed so well to each other. They always fit, back then.

Providence loses the second round, amid speculation that Jack is playing through an injury. The gossip dies down when he flies out to join Team Canada, like they think he'd sacrifice his body for the Cup but not for his country. Dumbasses.

There's definitely something going on with Jack's knee, and he's definitely not going to let it stop him from being a national hero. Dumbass.

Team USA drops out of contention before they have a chance to play Canada again after that. Kent takes a few bruises for bronze and then watches Jack from the stands, trying not to think about the cameras scanning the crowd. Jack plays his heart out like he always does, and bends his head for his gold medal like he thinks it still might be snatched away.

Kent thinks about trying to find Jack's room. He thinks about it all night.

*

They're on the same team at the All-Star Game and it's fucking torture. Kent has wanted to play with Jack again for so long that he hadn't thought about how much it would hurt. Of course they're on a line together, the narrative is too good, and it gets better when the two of them combine for six goals. Even for an All-Star Game, it's ridiculous. Kent hasn't breathed this deeply since he was seventeen years old.

It's not even the goals, it's the rushes. It's the feeling of going for it and knowing where Jack is, where he's going, when he's open. They haven't passed to each other in eight years, but their hands haven't forgotten each other. Kent can't help it; he cries.

The goal celebrations don't even register. He can't remember them, later, and he doesn't watch the video. It's got to be better that way.

*

They meet at the Olympics, and Kent uses his instincts in all the wrong ways. He knows where Jack is, where he's going, when he's open, and he uses it all against him. Jack does too. It's the worst.

One of them wins. One of them doesn't. Kent is just glad to get off the ice and away from any chance of eye contact.

He doesn't think about going to Jack's room, but he lets himself fantasize about Jack coming to his.

*

When his contract is up, he tries to sign with Providence. His agent gets kind of mad about how little money he's willing to accept if they'll take him. But Providence has a solid top line and a lot of concerns about his off-ice behavior, and it doesn't end up working out. He re-ups with Vegas instead, but not for too long, just in case things are different for the Falconers down the line. 

He catches his agent googling which bars in the area boast the heaviest pours. Kent pays him too much money to feel bad.

He keeps waiting to match up with Providence in the Final. It seems darkly inevitable, somehow. But Vegas hasn't been a consistent playoff team in years, and Providence has only made it to the conference final a couple times. Fate isn't going to just hand him that one.

Instead, it hands Jack to Montreal. A year later, when Kent's contract expires again, it forks him over too. And there they are, elbow to elbow in the locker room, and now Kent can breathe.

*

They play beautiful hockey together. They always have and Kent can't stop himself from believing they always will.

"Come out," Kent says, or "come over," and Jack is never anything but a good sport, but they aren't going to be who they were.

**Author's Note:**

> just had a few playoff-disappointment-related emotions to sublimate, don't mind me


End file.
